President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Venezuela’s newly-installed leader, suggesting a fate potentially more severe than that of former dictator Nicolas Maduro.

In a surprising shift, Trump, who initially supported hardline socialist Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as a preferable successor to the country’s ousted leader, appeared to reconsider his stance on Sunday morning. Previously, he had expressed a preference for Rodriguez over opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, following the arrest of Maduro and his wife in Caracas.

Speaking to The Atlantic, Trump warned that if Rodriguez failed to meet expectations, she would face severe consequences. “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” he stated.

Reflecting on the country’s prospects, Trump commented, “Rebuilding and regime change, call it what you will, would be an improvement over the current situation. It can’t get any worse.”

Meanwhile, Nicolas Maduro remains detained in a New York federal jail, having been apprehended by U.S. authorities on drug trafficking charges last Saturday.

The Republican leader also addressed rumors that he plans to take over Greenland next. 

‘We do need Greenland, absolutely,’ Trump told the outlet, adding that the Danish territory is ‘surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.’ 

His comments on Greenland come just after Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Steven Miller, shared a controversial post seemingly calling for the US to take the Arctic island over.

President Donald Trump changed his tune Sunday morning about Venezuela’s interim President  Delcy Rodriguez, now threatening her with a fate far worse than Nicolas Maduro’s 

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is acting as the interim president of Venezuela, has not backed down from Trump, calling Maduro’s arrest ‘an atrocity that violates international law’ and called for his ‘immediate release’ 

Miller, a conservative podcaster, posted a map of the Danish territory covered by the American flag and simply wrote ‘SOON.’

The MAGA ally’s threat immediately drew outrage among Greenlanders and Danes who stood up to protect their home, which is known for its untapped mineral wealth and is part of NATO.

For now, Trump said it’s up to the world to decide what the US strike on Venezuela means for Greenland.  

‘They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know. He was very generous to me, Marco, yesterday,’ Trump said, referring to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning people that when his boss ‘tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it.’ 

‘You know, I wasn’t referring to Greenland at that time. But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense,’ Trump added. 

Meanwhile, Rodriguez and Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, are not backing down from Trump. 

The Maduro loyalist, who has helped him maintain his regime for over a decade, has vented her fury at Trump’s capture of the despot, whom she called her nation’s rightful leader.

Rodriguez, who also serves as minister for finance and oil, slammed Maduro’s arrest as ‘an atrocity that violates international law’ and called for his ‘immediate release’.

‘We call on the peoples of the great homeland to remain united, because what was done to Venezuela can be done to anyone,’ she asserted during a National Defense Council session after the US military operation.

Maduro is currently languishing in a New York federal jail after being taken in by US authorities on drug trafficking charges Saturday

Fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, is seen from a distance after a series of explosions in Caracas on January 3, 2026

‘That brutal use of force to bend the will of the people can be carried out against any country.’

She also insinuated that she was not as on board with helping the US essentially run Venezuela as Trump had suggested.

Trump offered little further detail on the logistics of running Venezuela, which has a population of 30million, but suggested the country’s vast oil reserves would be used to fund its revival.

Frederiksen told Trump to ‘stop the threats’ and that ‘it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland.’ 

Frederiksen added: ‘The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom,’ before noting that her message was directed at America. 

‘I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale,’ she said. 

Following the capture of Maduro, Trump was spotted with a crowd of adoring Venezuelans at a luxury Mar-a-Lago dinner party.

Videos posted on social media by Venezuelan influencers show them hugging the US President and thanking him for ridding their country of the despot on Saturday. 

Latina artists Anirays Bolivar Camino and Adina Banea, and influencer Victoria Herrera were among those who attended. They each shared videos from inside Trump’s private Palm Beach resort. 

Bolivar Camino said it was ‘an honor’ to be ‘the first Venezuelan to thank Donald Trump’ for capturing the dictator who had been controlling their country for the last 13 years. 

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, told Trump to ‘stop the threats’ and that ‘it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland’ 

Donald Trump has celebrated the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro with a crowd of adoring Venezuelans at a luxury Mar-a-Lago dinner on Saturday night. Artist Anirays Bolivar Camino (pictured above with Trump) was among those in attendance 

Herrera, who attended the event with her husband, declared Trump to be ‘my president’. ‘What an honor as a Venezuelan to be here on this great day with POTUS,’ she wrote in a post. 

As shown in Herrera’s videos, the opulent event was also attended by Elon Musk, in the latest sign of him cozying up to the president after their explosive feud in the summer of 2025.

Trump entered the Mar-a-Lago dining room to a rapture of applause, before he spoke with the attendees and posed for photographs with many of them. The White House declined to comment on the event. 

More than eight million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014 due to rampant violence, inflation, gang warfare, and food shortages. As a result, the country has been left facing one of the largest displacement crises in the world, according to the United Nations. 

On Saturday, jubilant Venezuelans spilled out onto the streets to welcome the news with singing and dancing, while waving both US and Venezuelan flags. 

One person celebrating in Chile said: ‘I’ve come to celebrate because the dictatorship has fallen, Maduro’s drug trafficking has fallen, and Nicolas Maduro and Diosdado Cabello. 

‘We are free, we are all happy that the dictatorship has fallen and that we have a free country.’

Another in Doral, Florida, added: ‘Today, justice is being served. Justice is being served for all the Venezuelans who left our country to demonstrate who we are.

Videos posted on social media by Venezuelan influencers show them thanking the US President for ridding their country of the despot Nicolas Maduro 

The opulent event was also attended by Elon Musk, as shown above, in the latest sign of him cozying up to the president after their explosive feud in the summer of 2025

‘We are fighters, we entrepreneurs, we are good people but we want to return to our country and rebuild, move forward and continue being that force that we have always been. 

‘Long live Venezuela.’

The New York indictment against Maduro accuses him of leading a ‘a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.’ 

It alleges that the drug trafficking efforts ‘enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.’

US authorities allege that Maduro partnered with ‘some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world’ to bring tons of cocaine into North America.

Authorities estimate that as much as 250 tons of cocaine were trafficked through Venezuela by 2020, according to the indictment. 

Many people were pictured holding both US and Venezuelan flags in a gesture to Donald Trump, who ordered the special forces operation to capture Maduro

Venezuelans living in Chile celebrate the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Santiago on January 3

The drugs were moved on go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or via planes from clandestine airstrips, authorities allege.

Trump said the United States would govern Venezuela indefinitely in the meantime, after dismissing the prospect of the country’s popular opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, taking the reins, claiming she ‘does not have the support’. 

He offered little further detail on the logistics of running Venezuela, which has a population of 30 million, but suggested the country’s vast oil reserves would be used to fund its revival. 

Trump’s unapologetic focus on the South American nation’s oil supplies has prompted many US lawmakers to accuse him of being primarily motivated by economic gain, rather than a desire to pursue criminal charges.